USS Hornet

No state plaque marks the carrier. The bronze near the pier honors a different Hornet: the carrier that loaded Doolittle's bombers here and sailed on April 2, 1942, and was sunk that October off the Santa Cruz Islands. This ship, completed in 1943, took the lost carrier's name. It fought through the rest of the Pacific war, earning seven battle stars, and in July 1969, with President Nixon aboard, lifted Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins from the sea after Apollo 11. Decommissioned in 1970, it is moored at Pier 3 as a museum.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Beach Overlook — 17 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Muir Woods National Monument — 17 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.

More markers nearby

• Site of the China Clipper Flight Departure — 1.0 mi
• Alameda Terminal of the First Transcontinental Railroad — 1.0 mi
• Croll Building — 1.4 mi
• Coast Guard Lightship WLV 605 - Relief (decommissioned) — 2.0 mi